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FIFA give Drogba green light to play

JOHANNESBURG - Ivory coast striker Didier Drogba will be allowed to wear a protective cast on his fractured right arm if he plays against Portugal in their opening Group G match at Port Elizabeth on Tuesday.

Published

15 June 2010

"The referee, Jorge Larrionda from Uruguay has okayed the cast which he will use to play," FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot told a news briefing on Tuesday.

"The cast has also been seen by the Portuguese delegation at yesterday's match coordination meeting."

Drogba, who injured his forearm in a World Cup warm-up against Japan on June 4, has been told by coach Sven-Goran Eriksson to decide whether he feels fit enough to play.

He would not be the first player to appear in the World Cup wearing a protective cast.

Rene van der Kerkhof wore one in the 1978 World Cup final when his Netherlands side lost to Argentina and England striker Gary Lineker wore a small cast on his left wrist at the 1986 finals in Mexico when he scored a hat-trick against Poland.